


Cold Fire

by Afalstein



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2848061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afalstein/pseuds/Afalstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neji never expected to get on with the Kumo Nins in his division of the great shinobi army, but there's one golden-eyed kunoichi who seems hellbent on causing trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Smoldering

**Smoldering**

 

“So you’re one of those famous Hyuuga people.”  The dark-skinned girl dug something out of her nose and rubbed it off on the stone.  “Jeez, you look creepy.”

                Neji simply ignored her, munching away at his tasteless ration with mechanical repetition.

                Apparently slightly annoyed, the girl shifted her position to look at him more fully.  “Kumo’s got a lot of research on you guys and your Byakugan thing.”  She stated, tossing her oddly-red hair.  “I’ve read through a lot of them.  Never could see what was so special.”

                Neji still made no reply.

                “Of course, the files ARE pretty undersupplied.  Seems like you Hyuuga are pretty close with your jutsu.  Sealed eyes and all…”  The girl snorted.  “Suppose you have to be, though, when it’s the only trick you’ve got.”

                Despite himself, Neji could not help raising an eyebrow at the girl.

                “You heard me.”  There was a perverse air of triumph in her golden eyes.  “After all, it’s not as if you fancy-pants Hyuuga ever bother to learn anything outside of your eye-jutsu things.  You figure since you’re born with the things, why bother to learn anything else?”

                “You must have had extensive contacts with my clan, to conclude that their secret techniques are their only ones.”  Neji deadpanned.  Strictly speaking, he couldn’t completely disagree—most Hyuuga DID tend to focus purely on Jyuuken, if mostly because it was such a difficult and deadly fighting style to master.

                The hit seemed surprisingly effective, for she glowered and turned away.  “I’ve had all the contact I need with you and your stupid clan.”

                “How unfortunate for both of us, then, that you were selected for this particular division,” observed Neji, turning  back to his meal.

                Again the girl let out a little snort.  “No kidding.  You stupid Hyuugas are all over this bitchy little close-range-fighters division.  Bet you and miss princess back there feel right at home here, don’t you?”

                Neji paused, then swallowed deliberately.  “I take it you have some sort of problem with my cousin?”  He asked carefully, slowly turning to gaze at her.

                “What, her?”  The girl arched an eyebrow at him.  “You’re kidding, right?  She doesn’t have enough of a backbone to create any sort of problem.  It takes a lot of energy to hate someone like that.”

                “I note you have not answered my question.”  Neji’s stare began to edge more into the ‘intense glare’ territory,

                The girl looked away.  “Jeez, lighten up.  We’re all soldiers here.  We’re professionals.”

                “And again, you have not…”

                “Look, stop pretending you care, alright?”  The girl exploded suddenly.  “She’s not going to activate that Bird Seal in the middle of battle just because she thinks you’re not worried about her!”

                Neji’s eyebrows shot up.  Around the camp, several other dark-haired heads popped up, white eyes staring in the direction of the two.  On the other side of the clearing, Hinata and the Iwa girl she was speaking with froze suddenly.

                The Kumo girl looked uncomfortable.  “Just… just don’t worry about it.”  She snapped, standing to her feet and brushing herself off.  “Okay?  It’s not going to be a problem.”  Pushing past him, she muttered.  “I know how to follow orders.”

                Without turning around, Neji activated his Byakugan, watching the girl as she strode out of camp and made her way toward the river.  Only when she started aimlessly chucking stones at the water did he allow himself to relax.

                Suddenly Neji realized another Hyuuga had activated his Byakugan.  Ko.  In his younger days, Neji had always despised the elder ninja as a despicable boot-licker for the Main House, but since then he’d found a lot to admire about the shinobi.

                Specifically in this case, he admired the ninja’s tact.  Down in the camp, several hundred feet away but still facing Neji, Ko was unobtrusively making the hand-sign for ‘speak.’  Neji signed an agreement.  Ko nodded.

 _I only caught the tail end of that._   He mouthed.  _Did she say…?_

                Neji nodded.  _I was under the impression that the Caged Bird Seal was not common knowledge._   He mouthed in reply.

                _It became significantly more common after someone openly discussed it in the middle of an international fighting exhibition._   Ko’s mouthed words were devoid of expression, but the subtle twitch in his neck spoke volumes.

                Neji had the grace to wince.  _Nonetheless, the girl’s familiarity with it is disconcerting.  And she seems to harbor a grudge against Hyuugas.  Specifically Lady Hinata._

                For a moment the two said nothing, gazing with their all-seeing eyes straight across the clearing.  Hinata was talking again, and even laughing, but there was an obvious falsity to her manner, and her companion had an inquisitive gleam in her eye.

                Finally Ko resumed.  _Is Lady Hinata in danger, do you think?_

_It is possible.  Should we take steps?_

_We can’t kill the Kumo kunoichi._

_She’s not as talented as all that._ Neji scoffed, then catching Ko’s frown, realized his meaning.  _I mean, I know.  I was not suggesting we kill her.   Perhaps…_

_I will get some of the others and mount a guard over Lady Hinata._

_Be careful.  Any overt steps might lead to tension in the camp._

_Very well.  And you?_

_I…_ Neji’s eyes again focused on the red-head chucking stones into the river. _I shall keep an eye on the Kumo nin.  Do you know her name?_

_Karui._

 


	2. Poking the Embers

The next day, however, was really too busy to accomplish much of anything.  In the early morning, when they broke camp, there was really too much commotion to do more than simply watch the girl.  Only when camp was finally broken, and the army leaping along at breakneck speed, did Neji manage to follow Karui more closely.

                Despite all his care, apparently the girl noticed, for she dropped back and glared at him.  “You can stop tailing me, White-Eyes.”  She growled.  “I told you already, I’m not going to try anything.  Your precious princess is safe.”

                “Of course she is.”  Neji snorted.  “If I actually considered you a threat to her safety, I would dispatch you myself, alliance or not.  You need not flatter yourself, miss Karui, I actually have better things to do than tail common soldiers with petty grudges against my family.”

                “Oh yeah?  Then how is it you suddenly know the name of this ‘common soldier?’”  There was a surly gleam of triumph in her eyes.

                Sighing, Neji rolled his eyes.  “I am, actually, curious in how you knew about the Caged Bird Seal.  Until recently it was a closely kept secret.”

                “I told you.”  She gave her head a little toss.  “Kumo has lots of files on you Hyuugas, and I’ve read all of them.  And that Caged Bird Seal of yours isn’t as secret as all that.”

                “You’ve read all about them, then?”  Neji raised an eyebrow.  “You are either very devoted or very obsessed.”

                “Passionate.”  Karui sniffed.

                “Of course.  But that begs the question of where this obsession comes from.”

                Glancing at him quizzically, Karui asked, “And you care, why, exactly?”

                “Let us say I am disturbed by your interest in my clan, given your apparent antagonism.”  Neji’s eyes narrowed.

                “’Apparent antagonism…’” snorted Karui, looking away.  “No, I get that.  I just… you’re one of their little Branch toadies, why should you care about this sort of thing?”

                Neji glanced at her sharply.  “I might as well ask why you should care about my family status.  Surely my position in the Hyuuga clan is irrelevant.”

                 “Never said it was relevant,” answered Karui, shrugging.  “Just curious.  You expect me to give you answers, you’re going to have to give some of your own.”

                For a moment the two leapt along in silence.  About five hundred feet back, Neji could see Hinata jumping along, a seemingly random collection of Hyuuga nins around her.

                “Well?  What is it?  You just doing your duty as a good Branch Family member?”

                “This isn’t about the Branch Family protecting the Main Family.”  Neji answered, a trifle sharply.  “This is about me protecting my family and friends.”

                “Really.”  A short silence.  “Yeah, I don’t buy that.  How do you just… forget about that whole servitude thing?” 

                Neji sighed.  “A number of years ago I experienced a… change of perspective.  Someone helped me to see my life for what it was.  I no longer resent the Main Family for their status.”  His mouth twisted.  “Especially my cousin.  As you have observed, it takes a great deal of energy to hate her.”

                “Hmph,” grunted Karui, looking away.  “So what was this ‘change in perspective?’  I take it you weren’t always so hunky-dory with the position.”

                “I have answered your question, it is time for you to answer mine.”  Neji answer.  “Why are you so obsessed with the Hyuuga clan?”  His eyes narrowed.  “Particularly, as it seems, the Branch Family?”

                “None of your friggin’ business.”  Karui put on a burst of speed to pull away, but Neji matched her, leap for leap.

                “You owe me an answer.”  He insisted, leaping alongside her, giving her as intimidating a look as he could manage, while leaping through the air.

                Though silent, she slowed some, and Neji took that as a sign.  They leapt along in silence for a while, and then she cleared her throat.

                “My father…”

                And that was when the attack hit. 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

                The attack wasn’t really a surprise to anyone.  In fact, as Neji later heard, technically they attacked the Zetsus more than the Zetsus attacked them.  The clones had been burrowing underground, heading straight past them for the base camp, when two of the higher-ranking Iwa shinobi had essentially erupted them out of the earth.  So really, Neji’s division had the element of surprise on their side.

                Unfortunately, Neji himself did not.

                To his everlasting shame, Neji, who had not been watching the perimeter very closely, did not see the oncoming Zetsus and did not see the intervention of the two Iwa nins.  His focus on Karui had distracted him from the main event, which meant that when the entire army roared and charged at the erupting column of enemies, Neji (and Karui) found themselves swept up in the onslaught.  Neji barely even understood what was going on before a grinning white face leered up at him and reached out with a long claw.

                Instinctively, Neji’s hand flashed forward and planted a solid blow in the creatures face.  It practically blew apart.

                _Curious._   Neji mused, glancing at his hand.  _A construct of some kind?  Definitely not very stable.  Was…_

                “Hey, whitey!”

                A dark fist whizzed past his face to bury itself in an oncoming enemy.  “Wake up!”  Karui yelled.  “We’ve got a situation here!”

                Neji resisted the urge to say “I know.”  He could see ALL of the battlefield, the thousands of enemies attacking, the thousands more still burrowing up from the ground.

                Most importantly, he could see the hundred or so falling toward him and Karui.

                With lightning speed, Neji leapt forward and seized Karui by the waist, ignoring her outraged “Hey!”  He rushed at the creatures, bringing up his free hand in preparation for the famed Hyuuga Celestial Spin.  Karui’s arms latched onto him, whether because she realized the plan or because of something more involuntary, Neji never knew.

                “HAI!”  He shouted, leaping at them, feet flying, hands whipping about in familiar rhythm.  Desperately he struggled to maintain his balance—there was an extra weight hanging onto his back, a weight that he was not used to spinning with—and focused all his attention on the spin.  Zetsus pounded into his glowing sphere, shredding apart on contact.

                Finally Neji slowed to a stop, letting Karui slip off his back.  She faltered and nearly fell, escaping it only by virtue of Neji’s quick arm.  “Wh-what…”  She moaned, putting a hand to her head.  “What the heck was all… that… about…”  Her eyes widened as they took in the surroundings.

                The grass was thick with White Zetsu innards.

                “Whoah.”  She breathed.  “So that’s what you’re famous for.”

                Neji repressed the urge to smirk triumphantly.  “Among other things.”

                “Yeah?”  She looked at him, and through the dizzy haze of her eyes, there was a spark of defiance.  “Well do me a favor next time.  Warn me before you try something like that.  My brain feels like a mess of oatmeal right now.”  Her eyes moved down.  “And get your hands off me.”

                Starting, Neji slipped away from her.  “Apologies.”

                “Hmph.”  Karui made a few unsteady steps and shook her head.  “Honestly, was it strictly necessary to grab me like that?

                Neji blinked once, twice.

                “Of… course it was.”


	3. Inferno

**Inferno**

 

Neji could handle overwhelming numbers.  After all, he’d fought Uzumaki Naruto, who was practically a one-man mob.  So in one regard, he had no problem dealing with the sheer amount of Zetsu clones that were attacking him from every conceivable angle.

                On the other hand, he did have a problem with them having done it for the last two hours or so.  Neji had a pretty good stamina level—you had to, when you were in Maito Gai’s team—but it was not really his strong point, and the Gentle Fist style tended to exhaust your chakra, especially if you had to keep doing Kaiten spins all over the place.

                He saw the Zetsu coming for him.  It was just hard to distinguish it from the thirty or so other Zetsus coming for him.  A spin could have taken them all out, but they weren’t all as close together as that, and if he moved quickly he could conserve chakra.

                In fact, under normal circumstances Neji would have been completely right, but on this occasion fatigue had made him just a fraction slower, and so he’d only finished blasting out the heart of the twenty-ninth Zetsu when another reared up behind him and literally split apart, swallowing him like a giant fleshy venus fly-trap.

                Neji had maybe half-a-second to realize what the white stuff closing around him was.  His hands flew up.  “Jukenpo Ichigekishin!”

                There was a rushing sensation as chakra fired out of every point on his body, blasting the hapless Zetsu apart in a great pale gooey explosion.  Neji caught himself before he completely fell over and stumbled upright, skin still tingling from the maneuver.  He felt strangely exhausted… more than he should from that technique.  _It must have drained part of my chakra._   He realized.

                There was no time to pursue that thought.  Already another crowd of Zetsus was rushing at him.  Neji’s hand slipped into his pouch and popped a soldier pill into his mouth, even as his other hand was busily breaking apart the first two or three Zetsus.  In a way, this battle was an interesting exercise, he mused.   The enemy wasn’t terribly threatening, there were just so MANY of them.  It was like smashing your way through a crowd of battle puppets.

                Now his other hand was back in motion, but his reserves still felt dangerously low.  Soldier pills took a few moments to really get working.  He really doubted he could get a full-blown Kaiten going at this point.  Using as little chakra as possible, he weaved his way through the assault, dodging blows and jabs, contenting himself with the occasional well-placed strike, waiting for the pill to kick in.

                He whipped left to avoid the strike coming in from the rear.  Blocked the arm that jabbed at him from the left.  Six Zetsu were charging him on the front, there were three right behind him.  Neji whirled around, dodging right to avoid the earlier six, and dispatched the rear three in a flurry of kunai.  Now there were six on his left, four on his right, seven directly in front.  The nearest chakra signature was fourteen yards behind him, but they looked pretty busy, and he was doing pretty well… for now.

                The seven in front charged.  Neji dodged right, making for a hole between the second and third Zetsu.  They tried to close it, but he jabbed out, pulsing chakra through his arm and exploding the one on the left.   His foot wobbled a little on a loose stone, however, and he practically fell over into its remains, easy prey for the Zetsu looming on his right.  It gaped wide…

                …and disappeared in a spray of white.  Neji blinked at the smirking red-haired girl before him.  “Lose your touch, whitey?”  She called, wiping bits of white from her dark skin.

                Neji would have liked to make a smart reply, but he was simply too tired.  Instead, he opted to draw two kunai and send them whistling into the Zetsu charging behind him.  It wasn’t strictly necessary, but it made him feel better.

                The girl didn’t see.  She’d hardly had time to snap off the one-liner, already she was cutting a swathe around them.  Though an impressive swordswoman, she didn’t seem to have any jutsus at her command.

                Neji groaned as he stood up.  He could feel the soldier pill working, but it was far, far smaller than he had expected.   Momentarily he debated taking another, but decided against it.  Even soldier pills had their limits, and he needed to pace himself. _No more spins._ He told himself.  _You can’t afford it._

                The zetsus were on him again.  He dove left and came up jabbing, poking fingers into every piece of white in sight.  The way they exploded at his touch WAS rather gratifying, but it’d gotten old about three hours ago.  And the sticky residue they left behind had gotten old long before then.  Neji felt just mildly ill.

                He had a little space now, and he used it to leap clear.  A few zetsus jumped up after him, but they were far enough away to dispatch with kunais.  Needed to conserve those too… he was running low.

                Out of nowhere, a zetsu clone slammed into him, knocking his leap off balance and sending him to the ground, hard.  He managed to turn it into a half-roll, but his ribs ached from where he’d struck the ground, and he could already see the clone charging at him, followed by a score or so more…

                “ _Juuho Soshiken_!”

                The first ten zetsus disappeared in a blaze of blue.  Hinata’s lithe form leapt before him, jabbing away at the column.  Clearly, she was suffering no chakra depletion.  Neji scrambled to his feet and dispatched a party approaching her from the rear.

                “Are you all right, Neji-niisan?”  He heard her ask.

                “Yes, sorry.”  He muttered, feeling his cousin’s back up against his own.  “I should be…”

                “Forget about it.”  Her voice was curiously clear, decisive; her back stood strangely straight.  “This isn’t about the Houses.  Just two comrades protecting each other.”

                Neji grunted, barely suppressing the smile that rose to his lips.  A zetsu charged at him and he sliced the creature apart with a few well-placed chakra blows.

                Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the flash of red hair.  Karui, stooped low over a Zetsu corpse, was giving the two of them a very strange look.

                She looked almost… sad.

 


	4. Ashes of the Past

“You sure you don’t want to go to the healer’s tent?”

                “I’m fine,” grunted Neji, feeling the cool earth beneath his head.  “Just need to rest for a bit.”

                “I can handle things here, you don’t need to…”

                “Oh SHUT UP, Kiba!”  Neji shouted at the whitish blur beside him.

                “That’s Akamaru, you idiot!”  Kiba’s angry voice came from just a little further down, a much darker blob nearly indistinct against the sky.  “You’re so blind you can’t tell the difference between a dog and a person!”

                “Sounds like someone’s outdone themselves for the day,” came a new voice from Neji’s feet.

                Half-sitting up, Neji beheld a reddish blur coming out of the darkness, lit by a small glowing lantern.  A white blur appeared in Karui’s dark face as she smiled, saying, “Listen, Dog-boy, you’re supposed to be watching the line, not him.”

                “So?” Kiba practically growled.

                “So get back to doing it.”  There was a slight jingle as the girl shifted a red-and-white something in her hand.  “I just came from the medic camp, I’ll patch him up.”

                Kiba hesitated.  Obviously he’d seen the confrontation with them yesterday.  “I don’t…”

                “It’ll be fine, Kiba.”  Neji interrupted him, annoyed.  “Keep watch, I’ll be with you as soon as I’m all rested.”

                There was a moment of silence, and then: “If you’re sure.”  The white blur vanished into the darkness, along with (presumably) its owner.

                The floating red blur sat beside him, eyes curiously clear in the indistinct blur of her face.  “Geez, you Hyuuga are more careless than I thought.  Telling your friend to leave you while you’re out like this?  I could shiv you right in the heart and no one would be the wiser.”

                Neji grunted, slumping back on the earth.  “If you were going to do that, you would have done it in battle this morning.”

                “Fine.”  The girl sighed.  “But I still might be an infiltrator.  Someone under a genjutsu, you know.”

                “Your particular brand of annoying is hard to imitate.”  Neji allowed himself to smile.

                A snort broke loose from the blur.  “Fair enough.”   Suddenly a hand was cupping his head, gently lifting him upright.  “So.  Now that we’ve got that out of the way…”  A bottle shoved itself into visibility, “…drink up.”

                Neji lifted an eyebrow but obligingly gulped down the bitter liquid.  Coughing, he allowed himself to be lowered down to the earth.  “It has just occurred –hck— to me…”  He managed, “..that you are still –hagh- fully capable of using my situation –huck—to humiliate me.”

                Teeth flashed white again in a toothy smile.  “Not a bad idea, but not the case here.  Battle’s started, all bets are off.  We need your eyes back.”

                “Mmm.”  Neji closed his eyes for a moment.  The throbbing did seem to be lessening.

                There was a short silence.

                “Thanks for saving my life back there in the battle,” said the girl.  Her voice was curiously quiet.

                Neji shrugged, eyes still closed.  “If it comes to that, thank you for saving mine.  It is a battle.  One protects one’s comrades.”

                “Like with your cousin?”  Stiffening, Neji opened his eyes open to see a (much clearer) Karui shake her head, a bemused smile on her lips.  “Relax.  I’m honestly not gunning for her anymore.  Even talked to her some on my way around the lines here.  She seems to be a good kid.”

                “She is.”  Neji replied, leaning back, but still not closing his eyes.

                “I guess I just…”  Karui looked away for a moment, “…I saw the two of you backing each other up back there.”

                “At any point, were you paying attention to the BATTLE?” grunted Neji.

                “I’m trying to be friendly here.”  The girl snapped.  “Maybe you could make it a little easier?”  Sighing, she brushed her hair back.  “It just… I guess I realized that you weren’t joking.  You know.  With what you said about your cousin.”

                “I’m not generally known for making jokes.”  Neji observed, and was rewarded with a small smile from the girl.  “Especially about my family.”

                The smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared.  “Well… yeah.”  Karui coughed.  “I guess I can understand that.”

                Something about the way she said it made Neji take a closer look at her.  (Unobtrusively, of course.  Staring at her directly would have creeped her out, and Neji felt they were on the verge of understanding here.)  Karui was apparently staring very hard at the ground, her brilliant amber eyes half-lidded, a sliver of white gleaming as she bit her lip contemplatively.  One dark arm was hugging the other close to her side.  Actually, mused Neji as things continued to grow clearer, she looked surprisingly…

                …vulnerable.

                He hesitated to cut the silence, but finally cleared his throat.  “Before the attack.”  He said, nodding at the sudden start she gave.  “You started to say something about your father?”

                “Oh…”  Karui looked at him for a long second, started to say something, bit her lip, and looked away again.  “It’s not important.  Forget it.”

                For a moment Neji considered playing the “you-still-owe-me-an-answer” card, but discarded it.  Something in her manner told him this was not a subject to be investigated lightly.  “It may not matter much,” he replied quietly, “but simply so you know… I have had my own share of experiences with fathers.”   It wasn’t much of a line, he knew, but it was all he had. 

                Karui grunted noncommittedly.  But to someone trained to recognize body language, the way her shoulders were trembling spoke volumes.

                Neji waited.

                Finally Karui heaved a sigh and glanced at him sideways.  “You might have wondered why a hothead like me was assigned to Kaibi-sama’s security detail.”

                Neji had not known that she was part of Killer Bee’s team, but he nodded anyway.

                “Well, to put it simply, a lot of it has to do with my father.”  Turning to face him more fully, she brushed her hair back and stared at him.  “He was a great ninja.  One of the best.  They called him the Head Ninja of Kumogakure.  It’s not the Kage, you understand, but it’s a… well, it’s a hell of an honor.”

                Again, Neji just nodded. 

“Dad wasn’t around a whole lot back when I was growing up.  And when he did, he was tired and wounded… sorta drunk too.  But he always brought something back for me.”  A blink, and the dreamy expression in the girl’s face was replaced by sudden embarrassed annoyance.  “Not… that that has anything to do with anything.  I don’t know why I mentioned it.  Anyway.”  She coughed.  “One thing he talked about a lot when he was home was the Hyuuga.  How dangerous they were, how they couldn’t be taken by surprise, how they could set up ambushes for you miles in advance… he used to say, ‘Karui, if Kumo had just one pair of those eyes, there’d be a lot less men dying in surprise attacks.  I’d give my life to start a clan of those white-eyed bastards here in Kumo.’“

“The Hyuuga are a respected clan within Konoha.”  Neji tried to keep smugness from seeping into his voice.  “Though most would say that the Uchiha possess a more deadly bloodline.”

Karui shrugged.  “I don’t know about that.  Dad was obsessed with you Hyuuga.  The intelligence aspect alone just blew his mind.  Dad was in ANBU, you know, so surprise and stealth were big things with him.  He was all about quiet, subtle surprise attacks, about lying low and keeping quiet…”

“This is **your** father we’re talking about?”

“Ha, ha,” answered Karui, glaring at him.  There was a small twist to her mouth.  “I got my temper from my mother, if you have to know.  Comes with the hair.”

“I see.”  Neji nodded, perfectly serious.  “Please continue.”

Amber eyes rolled in their whites.  “Anyway, he respected—and hated—you guys.  He made it a point to kill as many of you as he could in the war… told soldiers to pick off the Hyuuga in a cell first, so they could get away and lay a trap if things went bad.  He was pretty famous for it.”

Neji shrugged.  He hadn’t been in the war, and there was really only one casualty from it that he cared about.

“Well anyway.  That was the war.  Ancient history, right?”  Karui seemed a little relieved at his non-reaction.  “So we fight the war, people die, countries make deals, and before you know it, Dad’s on a peace deputation to Konoha to witness the signing of a new treaty.”  Snorting suddenly, she added, “Dad didn’t think much of it, said we’d be at each other’s throats again within a year.  But hey, he was famous, the country wanted him there, so he went.”

Neji said nothing.  A sense of dread was slowly growing on him.

Karui said nothing either, for a moment, apparently struggling with something.  “I’m gonna… just tell this next part as I saw it at the time.”  She said at last.  “Later I found out there was a whole lot more going on, but… well, at the time… At the time I was just a kid.”

“It’d been… a week?  Maybe?  Since my father had gone off to Konoha.  I was at the Academy.  We were doing… basic ninja training stuff.  Memorizing the different seals, trying to see how fast we could go through them all.  And then this chunin teacher comes in and specifically asks for me.  Says I need to come with him.  Of course the kids all go ‘oooh’ and giggle and whisper… you know how it is.”

“Not really.”  Neji shook his head.

“Whatever.  Anyway, I’m figuring I’m in big trouble, especially when it turns out we’re not even going to the principal’s office, but the Raikage’s.  The Sandaime Raikage was a SCARY guy, you have to understand, and I was just a kid.  So the whole trip up to his office, I’m absolutely pant-shitting terrified trying to figure out what the heck I did to earn this.  And then we go into the office and I see my mom already there, crying.  Which at first scares me even more, because _holy crap they called my parents_ , like your ultimate nightmare in Academy, y’know?”

“Not really.”

Karui paused to throw him a weird look.  “What kind of childhood did you have?  No, never mind.  Don’t answer that.  Anyway, my mom just picked me up and hugged me, which was my first clue that I wasn’t in trouble.  But the Raikage was just standing there like a stormcloud, and all the other ninja hovering around looking awkward and saying, ‘I’m sorry, kiddo.”    Brushing her hair back, the girl snorted and stared off into the darkness.  “You’d think ninjas would be less sentimental.  It took me a good fifteen minutes to learn that my dad had been killed.”

There was a long silence.  “I… see.” Neji managed, feeling something was expected of him.

“Wow.  Thanks,” snapped Karui, glaring at him.  “Those words of comfort warm me right up.  Guess it’s true what they say about how sentimental you Leaf nins are, huh?”

“I’m just trying to understand…”

“Forget it.”  Karui waved off the apology.   “So yeah.  Big surprise, my dad had been killed by a Hyuuga.  Word in the village was, it was some kind of revenge killing—last stroke of the Hyuuga’s against their greatest enemy.  Didn’t help that Konoha refused to prosecute the murderer, citing that he’d been involved in a kidnapping.  Of course, everyone knew THAT story was absolute crap.”  She snorted.

“The account I always heard…”  Neji began to say.

 But Karui waved him into silence.  “I know, I know.  Like I said, I learned later there was a lot more going on.  But this was then.  The Raikage swore up and down there’d been no such kidnapping attempt, and threatened war if the body of the murderer was not delivered to us.  I thought that showed how much he cared about our family.”  A short bark of laughter escaped the girl.  “Of course, when Konoha finally caved in and delivered the body to us, ANBU whisked it away before my mother and I could even take a look.  We only got the body several weeks later, with obvious signs of surgery on it and the eyes removed.”  She shook her head.  “Even at the time, I thought that was weird.”

“Really.”  Neji didn’t think he could manage to say much more right then.

“Yeah.”  Apparently the girl was in her own little world.  “My family fell right out of the news after that.  They’d been talking about getting him a memorial, but it never materialized.  Kumo eventually conceded that Dad HAD been involved in a kidnapping, of the heiress no less.”

“My cousin.”

“…right, yeah, your cousin.  Kinda weird, to think of my dad trying to snatch her in the night.”  Again she gave a little snort.  “Of course, the Raikage swore up and down that he had nothing to do with the attack, and decried Dad as nearly sending the two nations to the brink of war.”  Her red hair wagged back and forth as she shook her head.  “I’m still not sure what to believe about that.  Honestly not sure which is worse.  I do know that it was hard to get through school, with that sort of thing attached to your dad’s name.  Though it WAS kinda cool to learn that it was the head of the Hyuuga clan that eventually took him down.”

Neji did not trust himself to speak.

“But that’s what got me, too.”  Karui said, frowning suddenly.  “Obviously we hadn’t gotten HIS body.  Didn’t take much digging to figure out that the Head had a twin brother in the Branch Family.  From there…”  she shrugged.  “The implications were easy to work out.”

There was a long silence.

“That just… wow.”  Karui glared into the night sky.  “I mean, for the most part I’ve learned to deal with the rest.  Ninjas, war, ugly, I get how the life goes.  You suck it up, you take the blows.  But… just thinking about a guy who’d… order a servant to take the fall for him—his own brother, no less… that just… wow.”  Glancing down suddenly, she remarked, in a suddenly different tone of voice.  “I guess that was my problem with your cousin.  I figured she’d be the same as her jerk dad.”  She gave a little chuckle.  “Course, one little talk cleared THAT right up.”

Neji finally managed to speak.  “The… body…”

“Sorry?”  asked the girl, arching an eyebrow.

“What… did you… do…”  Neji said, forming each word carefully.  “With the… Hyuuga body?”

The girl gave him a strange look, then shrugged.  “My mom and I had never really wanted the body for anything.”  She said.  “That’d been more a popular demand thing.  There’d been talk about burning it in public…”  Neji drew his breath in sharply, “…but that, like everything else, died away.  In the end, my mom and I just had it buried alongside my father.  Just seemed… fitting.”

There was another long silence.  Neji knew, KNEW it was up to him to say something, but somehow he couldn’t manage it.  His mind was churning with altogether too much to think and deal with.

Apparently it showed.  Karui looked at him curiously.  “Are you all right?”

“I…”

It was around then that Shikamaru came running up and told everyone to form circles.


	5. Burn Treatment

 

The rest of the night was understandably tense.  Even once Naruto showed up to save the day (again), the Zetsus simply responded by going all-out homicidal, which REALLY made for a hectic fifteen minutes or so.  And after THAT, the army had barely a full hour to rest up before new orders came through—they were to reinforce Gaara’s main force, which was under heavy attack.

                Neji didn’t really mind.  The action kept him from thinking too much about what he’d just learned.  You couldn’t waste your time moaning about old wounds when there was a life hanging in the balance.

Of course, that became significantly harder once they started RUNNING, and Neji had nothing except mind-numbingly boring miles to occupy his mind.  The short inspirational speech provided by Shikaku helped, but it was still a struggle NOT to think about it.

And of course, when Karui, in spite of all his efforts, found him and caught up with him, then it just became a lost cause.

To run away from her would just excite comment, and knowing her would only encourage her to follow.  So Neji pretended to ignore her, remaining perfectly silent and looking straight ahead i0n the hopes that she would soon tire of his company and leave.

For a few miles or so they hopped along in silence, until finally the girl spoke.  “So, I feel like an idiot.”  She said.

“Am I supposed to do something about that?” asked Neji, hoping to put her off.

She ignored him.  “For some reason I hadn’t QUITE made the connection about Miss Hyuuga princess being your cousin, making the current head your uncle, making his brother…”   Hesitating slightly, she finished, “…your father.”

“Clearly my uncle could have only one sibling.”

“Yeah, clearly, because your grandmother died in childbirth with him.”  Karui raised an eyebrow at the look he sent her.  “What?  I told you, Kumo has all sorts of records on the Hyuuga, of course we’re going to keep track of their Main Family developments.”

Turning back to face the main path, Neji grunted and picked up speed, but the girl matched him, leap for leap.  “So yeah, I feel really stupid and all kinds of awkward right now.”  She coughed.  “And… I get why you’re avoiding me and all, but… I wanted to apologize.  For bringing that up.”

“I asked.”  Neji pointed out.

“Well… yeah… but I… it still doesn’t… I mean…” Karui fumbled.  It was incredibly odd to see how off-guard she was.

“Apology accepted,” said Neji, briskly and curtly.  “I asked you about your anger toward my cousin, you answered honestly, there is no reason for you to feel dissatisfied with yourself.”

 “But I…”

“And if there is, I forgive you.”  Neji glanced back at her to indicate the conversation was over.

Subsiding, she seemed to agree, and fell behind.  But a few moments later, she picked up speed, nearly caught up, then suddenly fell back again.  She repeated this cycle nearly three times before Neji lost patience.

“Ask.”  He said, startling her in mid-leap.

“Wha—WA!”  She landed a little wrong, nearly slipped, caught herself, and sped up to meet him again.  “What are you talking about?”

Neji sighed.  “There’s a question that’s bothering you.  You’ve been debating for the past ten miles whether you should ask me or not.”

“Oh.”  She looked a little discomfited at being found out.  “Well… it’s just… why DON’T you have a problem with your cousin?  I mean, I know you said you said you were over the whole ‘Branch Family’ schtick, but I had a hard time believing that BEFORE I realized your family history.  I know I wouldn’t drop something like that.  Heck, I haven’t, and it’s not even MY father.  Or well…”  A look of momentary confusion passed her face.  “…well, okay, partly it IS my father, but that’s not the part that’s bugging me.”

Neji didn’t answer, hoping the girl would drop the matter.  Unsurprisingly, she didn’t.  “So what’s up with that?  Takes more than a ‘change in perspective’ to get over something like that.”

“There were… other considerations,” answered Neji finally.  “I was apprised of certain facts regarding my father’s death that I had not known before.”

Karui arched a skeptical eyebrow.  “Yeah?  Like what?”

“Like the fact that his sacrifice was of his own free will and NOT dictated by my uncle.”  He responded drily.

Again, Karui nearly tripped and caught herself just in time.

“I can’t blame you for thinking that, though.”  Neji shrugged.  “Until I was fourteen, I labored under the same delusion.  And… I DID resent the Main Family for it.”  For a moment he fell silent.  “Deeply.  I nearly killed my cousin.”

“Um.  Okay.  Wow.”  Karui was eyeing him with a new expression.  Respect?  Distaste?  “That’s… pretty hardcore.”

“That is one way of looking at it,” admitted Neji.  “It took a letter from my father to convince me of the truth.  He said he had to sacrifice himself—not just for the Main Family, not just for the village, but for his brother.”  Neji shook his head a moment before a more amusing memory struck him.  “He also said he knocked out my uncle with a blow to the midsection.  That… was profoundly satisfying to read.”

Karui looked somewhat skeptical.  “You’re sure this letter was from your dad?”

“Give me some credit.”  Neji’s eyes narrowed in annoyance.  “I know my father’s handwriting, and his style.  Since then, I have also had opportunity to verify the story from others who were present at the decision.  They told me that my uncle was willing to die to prevent a war between Kumo and Konoha, and even tried to stop my father from carrying out his intention.  But my father, contrary to Branch Family protocol, disobeyed my father.  He made the decision of his own free will and defied his destiny.”  Again his mouth quirked in a smile.  “And punched my uncle in the midsection.”

“Yes.  You said.”

Neji shrugged.  “It was memorable.  Somehow it… equalized them, in my mind.  The fact that my father had done something like that—and gotten away with it—rather changed the view I had of him.  And of my uncle, though to be fair, the way he bowed down to me and begged my forgiveness might have had something to do with that also.”

Karui blinked.  “He did what?”

“My uncle is not quite as bad as he is generally considered to be,” answered Neji, with a dry smile.  “He has taken my training personally in hand, and is a fair, if hard, master of the household.  When all is said and done, he is bound by tradition in many the same ways as I am.  More, in some ways, as there are things a clan head cannot do that a lowly servant can.”  Glancing over at Karui, he shrugged.  “So I no longer even resent my uncle for his status, much less my cousin.”

Karui shook her head.  “Still.  If I was in your shoes… I’m not sure I could take the idea of constantly being someone’s servant.”

“What do you call military service?”  Neji asked, with a wry twist to his mouth.  “Especially in YOUR village.  Compulsory enlistment, designated callsigns like ‘Ei’ and ‘Bee,’ federal family planning…”

Twisting to stare at him, Karui raised her eyebrows.  “You sure know a lot about the Cloud.”

“Most of that is common knowledge.”  Neji shrugged.  “But you must realize you are not the only person to research your enemies.”

“Ha!”  Karui grinned.  “Point taken.  Just so you know, the Cloud has been reforming some of its bitchier policies.”

“Noted,” nodded the Hyuuga.

They ran along in silence for a while, then again Karui spoke.

“Did you ever… when you were researching the Cloud… did you ever read anything about… my dad?”

Neji almost said no, never, he hadn’t recognized the description when she’d begun talking about him, and even now he couldn’t remember any particularly Hyuuga-phobic nins from the Cloud.  To be honest, he’d never been very interested in the ninja that kidnapped his cousin.  Kumo, yes, for demanding retribution; his uncle, for a while, for giving it to them; but the ninja who began it all… Neji’d never given him a second thought. 

But that wasn’t the sort of thing you said to a girl trying to reconnect with her long-dead father.

“Indeed.”  He nodded, furiously thinking of what he could honestly say.  “Both he and his actions are familiar to many Leaf nins, particularly those of my clan.  He is universally acknowledged as an excellent shinobi, well-versed in stealth.  To this day, Hyuuga guards study his infiltration of our compound to guard against the methods he used to evade our watch.  I have never heard my uncle speak of his battle with the man, but among the Branch Family I have always heard it described as a very close match which nearly killed him.”  Neji decided not to mention that the Branch Family was fond of making stories where the Clan Head nearly died.  “As to his war record, I know that Kumo’s tactics in the war are the subject of intense study in my clan—we lost a great many ninja in that struggle.”

Karui was silent, as if absorbing this, then said, somewhat more hesitantly: “Do they say… why… I mean, do they think it was a national thing or just some… weird personal thing he had like…”

“Nearly all who know of the event consider your father to have been under orders from Kumo.”  Neji answered without hesitation.  “As far as I know, there is no direct proof of this, but given the official nature of his visit and his subsequent actions…”  A shrug.  “It seems likely.”

A sigh escaped the girl.  “I see.”  A short silence.  “I… thanks.  That’s good to know.”

Neji grunted.  “I myself never blamed him for what occurred.”  He said suddenly, moved by an odd compulsion to say more.  “After all, a ninja follows the orders of his superiors.  Your father was asked by his country to do the impossible.”

“The impossible?”  Still running alongside, Karui arched an eyebrow at him.

“Penetrating the Hyuuga compound,” answered Neji, stone-faced.  “Categorically impossible.”

The girl snorted and tossed her head.  “Says you.”

“Regardless,” shrugged Neji.  “I always considered the kidnapper—your father—to be a victim of fate, much as mine was.  A man sent to his death by other men too cowardly to face it themselves.”

“Heh.”  A small grin curved the girl’s lips.  “Don’t let the Raikage hear you call him a coward.”

“As a man unwilling to admit to his own plans and failures, I do consider him a coward.  A principled man should have acknowledged the kidnapping attempt and taken responsibility, not demanded another life in exchange.”

“Not a very ninja-like thing to do.”

“Perhaps not.”  Neji shrugged.

“Admitting the attempt could have sparked war with the Leaf.”  Karui argued.

“Denying the attempt and demanding recompense nearly did anyway.”  Neji countered.  He held up a hand to forestall Karui’s reply.  “No, I cannot respect your nation’s actions.  But as regards your father…”  He shook his head.  “…I never blamed him.”

Another long silence.  Nothing but the sound of a thousand running feet and the air roaring against eardrums.

“…Thanks.”


	6. Cold Comfort

The air was thick with dust, and the far-off rumble of blasts shook the ground.  From here, all that one could see of the battle was great plumes of smoke and the flashes of light from various jutsus.  Lightning leapt from the sky and rebounded in fire and ash, an explosion bounced off great waves of sand shifting about like a thing alive.  Amidst the haze of battle, an enormous dark figure could be seen, looming over the field like a vulture.

                Neji ran.  There really wasn’t much else he could do, in a battle of this magnitude; and anyway the Suna shinobi in his arms was in desperate need of medical attention.  Apparently Gaara’s Fourth Division had been devastated by a meteor, and the remaining survivors were badly injured.  Fortunately the Medical Division had also been making their way here, but with the Kages battling Madara Uchiha… well, everyone involved had decided the medics should keep a respectful distance. 

As in, ten miles away.

Neji sped into camp, nearly tripping as a fresh explosion rippled across the ground.  Many other ninja were also rushing in from other directions, each burdened with a limp body.  Beds had long been filled up, and the wounded were swiftly outstripping the bedrolls.  Neji opted to lay his charge on the sand.  “Broken ribs.”  He said, as Shizune came running up.  “Legs possibly smashed also, I think he was knocked back by the blastwave and came down wrong.”

Shizune nodded, her face drawn and lined.  The medics had been working all night, Neji realized, and were probably experiencing chakra exhaustion at this point.  “Thanks.”  She said, casting a look over the wounded ninja.  “Good work on staunching the wound also, it doesn’t look like he’s lost too much blood.”

“Yes ma’am.”  Neji started to rise, but Shizune grabbed his arm.

“Hold up there.”  She smiled at him.  “Stop and take a rest for a minute.”

“But there are still…”

Shizune shook her head.  “Listen.”  She said.  “All of you second division fighters have been running all day.  You’re starting to drop dead on us, and the last thing we need is more casualties.”  She gestured to some ninjas filing in over on the left.  “Darui’s division just got in, they’re taking the heat off you guys for now.  “Go take a rest.”  She smiled.  “You look like you could use it.”

Feeling he ought to protest but too exhausted to actually do so, Neji slowly got to his feet and made his way in the direction indicated.  Finding a handy sand dune, he slumped against the shady side, digging into his vest for something more nourishing than soldier pills.

A few minutes later, Hinata collapsed next to him, followed shortly by Kurotsuchi.  Neji knew the girl, both as the commander’s daughter and as Hinata’s constant companion over the last few days.  The two girls had apparently bonded quickly, which surprised Neji—Hinata’s intrinsic shyness didn’t make for forming fast friendships.

The reason quickly became apparent.  Kurotsuchi enjoyed talking, and did not care who heard her, so long as they stayed quiet.

“Don’t know what took Darui’s people so long to get here.”  She snorted.  “They were practically on top of us last night, it’s not like they had a whole lot further to run.  That one medic lady fed me some line about them being the rearguard or some such nonsense, but heck, I wasn’t born yesterday, I know where a rearguard is supposed to be, and it’s NOT half an hour behind the main body.”

Neji wondered if all women outside Konoha were loud and obnoxious, or whether he just had bad luck.  “Perhaps…”

“Still, suppose they’re here now.”  She bit the end off her nutrition bar and made a face.  “Oh!  Damn, I hate field rations.  This stuff is horrible.  You’d think the army would be able to put SOMETHING in them to make it more bearable.”  Glancing off to the south, she observed, “Hope they manage to get a mess tent set up before too much longer, not that that crap is much better.”

“You’re kidding, right?  Look at that fight out there.  No way they can keep that up for more than a day.”  Karui dropped down to join the group.  “Not much point in setting up camp for that, unless we’re planning to stay out in this godforsaken desert AFTER the battle.”  Digging out her own rations, she offered him a nod.  “Hey Neji.”

Neji returned the nod.  “Hello, Karui.”  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ko pause.  Neji’s head made a nearly imperceptible sideways twitch, and the older ninja moved past them—but not very far.  Hinata’s eyes flickered toward him, but she said nothing.

Few people realized how much the Hyuuga could communicate without saying anything at all.

“What’s the matter, sister, not used to heat like this?  I come from the mountains, and you don’t hear ME complaining.  Man, this food is horrible.”

Though in Neji’s opinion, some people could stand to learn.

 “Anyway,” said the girl, biting off a large section of her bar. “as far as the fight goes, that probably just Grandpa showing off.  Think I heard one of his blasts go off a while ago.  He could end it anytime, he just likes to stretch it out.”

“It is possible that enormous black giant might give even your grandfather pause.”  Neji noted drily.  “I heard some of the other soldiers identify it as the Susanou of Uchiha Madara.”

Kurotsuchi just rolled her eyes.  “Obviously you’ve never seen my grandfather fight.”

“I have not.”  Neji admitted.  “Nor have I seen Uchiha Madara fight.  And, given the view from this distance…”  He paused as an unnaturally large explosion rocked the earth, “I am not particularly certain I want to.”

Karui snorted, following his glance.  “You can say that again.”  Suddenly she slapped her forehead and stood up.  “Damnit, I almost forgot.  Sensei was in Darui’s division.  I never got the chance to find her last night, I’m going to see if I can locate her now.”

The others nodded their understanding and waved her off.  A little ways on, Neji saw Ko’s shoulders slightly relax.  For a few moments silence reigned over the sand as the threes ate down their tasteless nutrition rations.

Sighing, Neji stared at the distant battle.  “It is… somewhat disheartening.”  He mused.  “To spend so long training and learning to more fully develop your skills, only to come up against something like this…”  He shook his head, “…and suddenly realize how far from the top you really are.”

“What, you looking to be Hokage?”  Kurotsuchi smirked at him.

“Neji-nii-san is a very capable shinobi.”  Hinata insisted, clearly torn between encouraging  her cousin and supporting a more prominent Hokage contender.

Ignoring the both of them, Neji began to root around in his vest for another bar.  “I have no ambitions to become Hokage.  I somehow doubt they would allow a Branch Family member to occupy the most influential position in Konoha.”

“It would doubtless make the Hokage susceptible to influence, yes.”  Neji froze at the voice.  Belatedly, he noticed the other Branch Members standing at attention.

Hinata scrambled to her feet and attempted a bow. “O-otou-sama…” 

Ignoring her, Lord Hiashi gestured.  “Neji.  I need to speak with you.  Come with me, please.”

Neji obediently hopped to his feet and followed the Clan Head out of the gathering.  Lord Hiashi looked even more serious than usual, and very weary.  His left arm was in a sling and he walked with a stiffness almost like—Neji frowned as the oddity struck him—almost like that brought on by Jyuuken combat.

“I have a message for you from your father.”

The statement was flat, simple, blatant in its baldness.  Nothing about Lord Hiashi’s tone suggested it was at all remarkable.  He did not turn to look at Neji, not even when the young jounin nearly fell over from surprise.  His smooth, even stride did not so much as falter.

“An Edo Tensei, you understand.”  He continued, gesturing at the bandages.  “I had forgotten what a capable fighter my… brother was.  Obviously we did not have much space for remembrances but he was… intrigued to learn of your reconciliation to the Main House.”  Reaching the edge of the tent, he turned to face Neji.  “He asked me to convey a message.”

Another nod.  What else could he do?  Neji wasn’t sure he’d know what to say even if he _had_ to speak.

Hiashi’s face softened momentarily.  “Your father says that he regrets not being able to face you personally, but that he is proud to hear of your prowess and, more importantly, your character.  It fills him with pride to hear of how you have worked to create your own fate, fighting alongside your cousin as a comrade.”

There was a short silence as Neji struggled to speak.  “Th-thank you.”  He managed at last.  There was a moment of silence as they both stared off across the desert at the raging battle beyond.  There didn’t seem to be a whole lot more to say, but Neji knew better than to dismiss himself.

Finally Lord Hiashi cleared his throat.  “That is all.  You may go.”  As Neji bowed and prepared to move away, he asked suddenly.  “My daughter appears fatigued.  Is she well?”

“Yes.”  Neji nodded.  “She sustained no injuries during the battle and acquitted herself well.”

“Ah.  I had received reports that a Zetsu infiltrator nearly killed her…”

“Naruto… intervened.”

“Ah.  That reminds me of another matter I must ask you about.  I have heard rumors…”

“Yo!  Neji!”

Whipping around in horror, Neji saw a familiar red head making her way along the ring of tents.  She came jogging up to him.  “There you are.  The others didn’t say where you’d gone.  Hey, think you can put those oh-so-fancy eyes to work on finding my sensei in this camp?”

Lord Hiashi blinked at this fiery intrusion on his private conference.  “We are at war, child.  The Byakugan is not to be used for personal convenience.”

Karui barely glanced at the man.  “And just who the heck are you?”

There was a short moment of awful silence.  “Karui-san…” Neji managed to grit out, wondering HOW her research had missed this, “…this is Hiashi-sama, head of the Hyuuga clan.”

Karui’s eyes got very large, and her dark skin just a trifle pale.  “Oh.”  She said, stepping back.  “Oh, and now that you say that I can see the resemblance and I…  Uh that is… uh…” she attempted a clumsy bow.  “Pleased to meet you, sir.”

Lord Hiashi said nothing at first.  He simply studied the red-haired girl from under impassive lids, watching her as she writhed in embarrassment beneath his gaze.  Finally he tilted his head, as if looking at her from another angle, and said: “Karui, you say?  You are from Cloud, correct?”

“Uh… yes.”  The sun gleamed on the sweat trickling off the girl’s neck.

“Mm.”  Lord Hiashi took a step forward.  Again he tilted his head, this time the other way, then tilted it back.  “Your eyes…” he mused.  “They remind me of a man I fought, long ago…”  He leaned back a little, nodded, and drew himself up.  “He was a formidable man, of great intellect and ability.”  He told her.  “Indeed, it is safe to say he wounded me more than any other enemy.”

There was a short silence.

“It is good to see his daughter now fights beside us."  Lord Hiashi said, turning away to face the sun.  “You may go now, Neji.  I have no further need of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is where things go more or less AU. I had pretty much caught up with the manga at this point, and just sort of guessed where things were going to go. Obviously, Neji doesn't die, so there is that, but honestly I was never too concerned with keeping this in canon.


	7. Heart-warming

“Not so good with family resemblances, are you?”  Neji raised an eyebrow at her as they walked away from Lord Hiashi. 

“Families are kinda vague where I come from, okay?”  She hissed.  “It’s rarely worth the trouble to figure out who’s related to who.  The village keeps track of all that stuff.” 

                “Still, one would think you’d pay more attention to a body you last saw dead.”  At her questioning look, Neji sighed.  “The body your family received in Kumo?  My father?  Lord Hiashi’s TWIN?”

                Karui crossed her arms with a little huff.  “Oh give me a break.  That was years ago, and we only got it after ANBU was done with it.  Plus there’ve been corpses walking around all day, one more hardly makes much difference.”

                Despite the morbid topic, Neji almost felt like grinning.  “One can clearly see the result of your years of research into the Hyuugas.”  He commented drily.

                “Shut up.”  Karui grumbled.  “Are you going to help me find sensei or what?”

                Shrugging, Neji raised his fingers.  “Byakugan!”

                It wasn’t easy to search for an unfamiliar chakra signature, particularly on a pair of eyes that Neji had been using all day and were starting to tire.  Karui described her sensei as best she could, but in a camp full of ninja, that didn’t help a great deal, particularly as, if her sensei WAS in Darui’s division, she was probably out running with the others. 

                “Is there some particular reason you’re so concerned about your superior?”  Neji asked, as they threaded their way through the cots in the medical tent.

                Karui shot him a look.  “Aren’t YOU?”

                “…No.”  Neji admitted, feeling slightly ashamed.  In truth, he had not given Gai-sensei a second thought since his assignment.  Of course, Gai-sensei WAS an extraordinarily capable ninja, but something told Neji that so was this ‘Samui’ they were attempting to find.

                “Oh.  Well, excuse those of us who care about our comrades,” grunted Karui, rolling her eyes at him.  “Samui… she’s like my big sister, okay?  She’s about the only thing that keeps me and Omoi from tearing each other apart most days.” 

                “Omoi being…?”

                “My other teammate.  Actually, thinking about it, I suppose Samui mostly keeps just me from tearing Omoi apart.  Lazy ass wouldn’t rip paper without orders.”

                “I see.”  Neji focused momentarily at a well-endowed woman about a half-mile away.  No.  Karui had detailed her sensei’s platinum blonde hair, this girl was more of a brunette.  He resumed his search.

                “I really get the feeling that you don’t,” said Karui, eying him doubtfully.  “Teams are like family in Kumo, isn’t it the same in Konoha?”

                “No.  My family is the Hyuuga clan.  My comrades are my team.”

                “You sure?”  Karui sent him a disbelieving look.  “I mean, I get that we’re a bit different with the family planning and all, but even so… teams fight back-to-back, pull each other out of the fire, keep each other warm around the fire on long nights, all that sort of thing.  How’s that not family?”

                “I…”  But Neji stopped.  He remembered how often he’d had the thought that Gai and Lee were like father and son.  And he supposed there was something rather sisterly in the way Tenten would so often interpose between him and Lee.  And though the Hyuuga were, undeniably, his family…

                “Perhaps there are… similarities.”  He admitted.

                “About to say.”  Karui snorted.  “You DO have a heart, don’t you?”

                Neji shrugged.  “There has been some debate on that point.”

                Stopping, Karui turned to look at him, a quizzical expression on her face.  “Did you… did you just make a joke?”

                Neji responded with a full-strength stoic expression.  “Did I?  That was not my intent.”

                After studying him for a moment, Karui shrugged and turned away.  “Anyway.  You get the idea.  I just want to hear how things went on her end.  I hear second division met up with a bunch of those Edo Tensei things.”

                Though his head wasn’t turned in her direction, with his Byakugan active, Neji could study Karui perfectly well.  Her arms were crossed and her feet planted wide; but there was just the slightest inward hunch to her shoulders, and she was chewing her lip in a telling manner.

                “You’re worried.”  Neji tried to make it sound like a question.

                “I am not!  Jeez!”  The shoulders straightened momentarily and the teeth clenched.  “I just…” again the inward sag.  “…haven’t seen her in a while, okay?  She’s a powerful ninja, I’m sure she’s fine.  But there have to have been some incredible matches, with all the dead shinobi running around.”

                “Mm.”  Neji decided not to pursue the matter.  There was a platinum blonde, but her skin was dark and she was much too short.  Also she was not as generously gifted as Karui had described (Neji seriously doubted most people understood the full ramifications of the Byakugan.)  Sighing, he directed his gaze further toward the desert, trying to get a good look at the ninjas racing back and forth across the sand.

                “What did Uncle Creepy-eyes-sama want with you anyway?” 

                The question startled him and he blinked.  “I beg your pardon?”

                “Lord Hiashi.  The big clan leader I just embarrassed myself in front of.”  Karui rolled her eyes.  “You were talking with him, or he was with you, whichever.  So what was all that about?  For his tea service next morning?”

                Neji hesitated a moment.  A long moment.  Several times, he saw the girl glance at him, but she said nothing.  He started to say one thing, stopped, started to say another,  decided that his first had been better, changed his mind again, and finally said:  “My uncle was passing on a message from the Edo Tensei of my father he met yesterday.”

                That brought Karui up short.  “Oh.”  A short pause.  “Sorry.  I didn’t…”

                “It’s all right.”  Neji assured her.  “We had finished by the time you arrived.”

                She still looked rather guilty.  “Are you… okay?”

                “Thank you, yes.”  Neji responded automatically.

                “Can I ask what…”

                “You may not,” said Neji, a trifle sharply. 

                “Right.  Sorry.”

                There was another short pause, long enough for Neji to feel guilty about cutting her off.  But honestly, what business was it of hers?  Neji did not feel inclined to share information about his family at the best of times. 

                Still, SOME sort of gesture was called for.  “He… my uncle did say that my father was as capable a fighter as ever.”  He offered.  “And… that he was happy to hear of my own… progress.”

                “That’s good.”  Karui answered.

                More silence.

                “It is… troubling, I suppose.”  Neji admitted, eyes still sweeping the crowd.  “Troubling that my father should be resurrected against my uncle.  Flattering also, in a way, but…”  He heaved a sigh.  “One of the great ninjas of our village once said that the measure of a ninja is how he dies.  My father died protecting his brother, but now…”  He shook his head.  “Now he dies an enemy of the Leaf and of my uncle.”

                Behind him, he saw Karui reach out to his shoulder, hesitate, and draw back.  “It… well it… might be… more accurate to call him an… opponent.  Y’know?”  She coughed.  “Everyone knows it wasn’t him.  Your uncle fought him, sure, but from what you said… doesn’t sound like he hates him for it.”

                “No, but most likely my father hates himself.”  Neji countered.  At Karui’s expression he shrugged.  “It’s… something of a family thing.  It’s a matter of great shame to attack a member of the Main Family.  Regardless of reasons.”

                “You were plenty happy about your father punching him in the midsection.”

                “That… was different.”

                “Really?  How?”

                “It was attacking the Clan Head to save his life.  This…”  Neji shook his head.  “…that my father should be among the ninja revived, when there are so many other powerful ninjas, that he should face my uncle, amidst all the possible assaliants…”  Again he shook his head.  “It can only be destiny.  A destiny, perhaps, that is punishing my father for attempting to defy his.”

                “Neji.”  She stopped.  “Neji, look at me.”

                “I am looking at you.”  It was completely true.  He literally COULDN’T look away from her.

                “Then turn around so I can look YOU in the eye.”

                Shrugging, he turned so she could see his face.

                “Now listen.”  She said, amber eyes burning.  “Thousands of ninja were revived, and they all attacked against their will.  If your precious clan doesn’t take that into consideration, than their consideration isn’t worth a damn.  You want destiny?  How about that your dad got to fight someone he could trust to give you a last message?”  Snorting, she crossed her arms and looked away.  “MY dad didn’t come back, or if he did, he died before he could get a message to me.  Be glad yours got the chance to.  If anything, I’d say destiny is paying you guys back one.”

                There was a short silence as Neji blinked at her.  “Karui, I…”

                “Sorry, excuse me.”  A dark-skinned nin with spiky blonde hair shoved between them before stopping and doing a double take.  “Karui?”

                “Ah… Commander Darui!”  Karui shook herself and stood to attention.  “Sir!”

                “Right, right, relax.”  The commander waved off the salute.  Neji detected a hint of unease in his pose.  “Hm.  Glad I found you, Karui.  It was getting dull looking for you.”

                Karui hadn’t quite relaxed from her saluting position.  “Looking for me, sir?”

                “Yeaaaah.”  The unease became more pronounced and the jounin rubbed the back of his neck.  “You… you were in the same squad with Samui, right?”

                “Yes sir.  She was the senior member.  I was just looking for her now, in fact.  Do you know where she is?”

                Darui told them.  There were questions, denials, rages, and finally sobs.  Darui placed a hand on her shoulder, apologized again, left.  The camp flowed around them, heedless of the sobbing girl.  Unsure of what to do, Neji stepped forward and gave the girl an awkward hug.

                She grabbed onto him and did not let go.


	8. Burning Out

“You’re to report to the west camp.  Tent B16, where you’ll meet with commander Ao.”  The orderly directed him.  “He’ll have more information on what your division will be responsible for.”

                “Yes sir.”  Neji nodded, packing up the last of his gear.  Camp was breaking up.  The news had spread through the camp long before it had been confirmed by the commanders—the war was over.  Black Zetsu and White Zetsu Prime had been crushed, their legions dying with them.  Madara, the last Edo standing, had finally been vanquished.  Naruto had returned with the news of Tobi’s defeat.  Sasuke Uchiha’s fate was still uncertain… some said Naruto had killed him, some said he had killed himself, some said that he had actually escaped and only made people THINK he’d died, some even said that he’d repented of all his deeds and rejoined the Leaf (though Neji didn’t put much stock in that rumor).

                One thing that WAS for certain, though, was what was happening to the army.  Some segments were being disbanded.  Most of it was moving to the old Akatsuki base, to secure it and the prisoners, to make sure there were no holdouts.  Other teams, like Neji’s, were being sent out on recon missions to track a few missing renegades like Suigetsu.  All divisions were being restructured to reflect the new concerns of the post-war cleanup.

                This meant, of course, that Neji would no longer be serving under General Kitsuchi, alongside his old comrades.  His cousin, as the clan heiress, was part of the “village-critical personnel” who was being let go from the army.  Kurotsuchi was also leaving, under similar concerns.  Karui, Neji had heard, was joining the main body in their assault on the old Akatsuki base. 

But he hadn’t actually seen her yet.

                He supposed he shouldn’t expect to.  The camp was in enough turmoil, with everyone rushing each and every way.  It would be incredibly difficult and time-consuming for her to seek him out.  Why, it would be foolish even for him, with his crowd-searching Byakugan, to waste time trying to find her in all the hordes of people.

                And if he DID have his Byakugan currently on, that was simply because he was searching for tent B16 and Commander Ao.  He couldn’t help it if that showed him the whole camp at the same time.  Whoever else he stumbled across in the search for his own tent was purely his own business.

                Neji ground his teeth together.  What on earth was wrong with him?  This was war.  The Shinobi Alliance had been groundbreaking and revolutionary and everything, but you couldn’t expect such things to last.  Doubtless in a few months the villages would be back to their usual bickering and he’d probably be trying to kill a few of the lives running around here.

                Still, one could have respect for an adversary.  Affection, even, so long as it did not impair your abilities to destroy their internal organs.  And Neji was nothing if not professional.  No, his judgment was…

                “Hey!  White-Eyes!”

                Neji turned at the sound.  _How did I miss her?_   A rather breathless Karui ran up to him, waving a piece of paper.  “Just got my orders.  General assault.”

                “So I’d heard.”  Neji nodded.  “Congratulation.  I am to be part of the hunter team.”

                “Oh.”  Neji couldn’t quite decipher the sudden alteration in her face.  Relief?  Disappointment?  Comprehension?  “You?  Ha, you’ll scare those tracks right off the path.”

                “If you say so.”  Neji felt his mouth give a twist.  The joke wasn’t really very funny, but still…  “We are supposed to follow them, so hopefully they won’t run.  The tracks, that is.”  He added, seeing her confused expression.  “Since I scared them off the path, they’ll run, and we need to…”  Biting himself off, Neji looked away, vowing never to attempt humor again.

                A sudden laugh made him look around again.  Karui was shaking her head with obvious amusement at his discomfort.  “Just stay near the rear, okay, binocular boy?  That way the dogs or bugs or whatever you Leaf nins use can find them first.”

                Neji nodded, his hopes rising.  “Indeed.  That way the tracks will still be there.”

                A faint look of exasperation crossed her face.  “I meant the fugitives.”  She punched his shoulder.  “Be careful, okay?”

                “You’re the one charging the deserted terrorist base.”  Neji pointed out.  “YOU be careful.  I just have a few isolated S-class psychopaths to chase down.  It shouldn’t be a problem.”

                She laughed.  “Okay.  Deal.”

                For a few moments they simply stood there awkwardly.  Neji had specifically deactivated his Byakugan so he could look away… for some reason it was incredibly uncomfortable to look at her eyes.

                “So.”  She swallowed.

                “So.”  Neji agreed.

                What were you supposed to do in these situations, anyway?  Clearly something was required… With a slight cough, Neji spread his arms wide to indicate a hug, but Karui grabbed him and mashed her face against hers. 

                It wasn’t particularly romantic—in point of fact, Neji felt she’d barely avoided breaking his nose—and he was far too surprised to properly react to it. But it was the closest thing to a kiss Neji’d ever had.

After a few moments she let go.  “I… uh… have to go now.”  She said, rather breathless, and fled off into the camp.

                Neji had all of five seconds to stand there in dumbfounded puzzlement before he was tackled from behind.

                “YOSH!  Neji-san, you have at last discovered the youthful flames of passion!”

                “DANG, man.”  Kiba grinned at him.  “Not bad.  Not bad at all.”

                “Get off me,” muttered Neji, disentangling himself from Lee’s embrace.  “What are you two doing here, anyways?”

                Kiba shrugged.  “I’m part of the recon team with you.  Thought I’d look you up, see what was taking so long.  Though if I’d known what you were up to I might’ve waited.”  A toothy grin spread across his face.  “Dang.  When she came up that night I didn’t think… How long you been hiding this from us, huh?   Shoot, I might’ve made a pass at her myself if I hadn’t thought you two were sworn enemies.”

                “It’s… not like that.”  Neji insisted, attempting to straighten his vest.

                “Riiiight.”  Kiba grinned again.  “You just kiss random girls all the time.”

                “There is no shame in love, Neji-san!”  Lee admonished him.  “True passion declares itself to the world.”

                “Then clearly, this is not true passion, as I am not declaring it to the skies,” answered Neji, giving Lee an entirely blank expression.

                Kiba snorted.  “This is priceless.  Wait’ll till I tell Hinata, she’ll want to get into wedding plans and stuff.”

                “PLEASE.”  Neji said, reacting a trifle more strongly than normal.  “Such a relationship is untenable in any case.  We are from wholly different countries and unlikely to meet after the war.”

                Kiba’s grin could hardly get any wider.  “Love ‘em and leave ‘em, eh, Neji?  I like it.  I swear, I will never fall for that cold hard front of yours again.”

                “Do not despair, Neji-san!  Love triumphs all barriers!”

                “Stop it, please, the both of you.”  Neji groaned.  “You are deriving too much from too little, I assure you.  Besides, don’t we need to report to our stations?  Lee, I seem to remember you’re also part of general assault.”

                “Fine by me,” shrugged Kiba.  “I’ve got no problem with tormenting you about this girl alllll the way to wherever Suigetsu is holing up.”

                “And I will do my best to defend your beloved from all harms!”  Lee flashed him a thumbs-up and a gleaming smile.  “Not so much as a hair of hers shall be harmed, I promise you!”

                Neji’s brow grew more worried.  “Please don’t bother.”  He told Lee.  “PLEASE.  She’d…”  He thought quickly.  “…she’d be upset at the lack of challenge.”

                “AH!”  Lee’s eyes lit up.  “I understand, Neji-san!  Say no more!”  And with a quick salute and another gleaming smile, he dashed off into the camp.

                Kiba smirked.  “You seem to know a lot about her.”

                “You’re not going to give this up, are you?”

                “Are you kidding?  A chance to make the great Neji Hyuuga embarrassed?  What self-respecting prankster would?  Man, I can only imagine what Naruto’s going to do when he hears about this.”

                Wincing, Neji shook his head.  “Come on.  We will be late to our meeting.”  As they moved off, he silently activated his Byakugan.  Far off, on the opposite side of the camp, he could see Karui, sitting on the ground, hugging herself.

 _Goodbye_.  He mouthed silently.


	9. Burning Bright

                “So…”  Karui said, pouring out another glass of sake.  “How was work?”  Firelight flickered across her chocolate brown skin as she lounged across the rug in her sweatpants and tanktop.

                “Good enough.”  Neji shrugged, accepting the glass.  He also lay on the rug, half-propped on one elbow.  “I had an audience with the Raikage.  Much bowing took place.”

                “Really?  How is Darui?”  Her amber eyes lit up with interest.

                “Well.  He remains his… placid self.  I presented him with the sword Kusanagi, which Konoha nins finally recovered from Orochimaru’s old base last week.”

                “You GAVE him that sword?”  Karui sat back and studied him with an air of vague confusion.  “What the heck for?”

                Neji shrugged again as he raised his glass.  “It originally belonged to Kumo.  Kusanagi isn’t even its real name, that’s just what Orochimaru titled it after he took it from the corpse of a Kumo hunter nin.”

                “Really?  What did it used to be called?”

                “ _Murakumo no Tsurugi._   Sword of the Village of the Clustering Clouds.  Not the most imaginative name, perhaps, but then, no ninja has ever been accused of being a poet.”

“Not even Killer Bee,” snorted Karui. 

Neji eyed his wife dubiously.  “How is it that I know the entire history of your own village’s sword, while you have never heard of it, even in school?”

                Karui shrugged and waved the accusation away.  “They probably mentioned it… sometime.  I just don’t remember.  I didn’t have a lot of time for studying swords then.  No…”  She leaned forward, touching her nose to his, flashing a wicked grin, “…I spent all my time studying YOU.”

                She was possibly slightly drunk, Neji decided.  “I think you mean, studying how to kill me and all my kind.”

                “AND gouge out your eyes.  They were working on a way to counter the seal thing, y’know, so that you could take out a Branch Member’s eyes and still use them.”  She giggled a little.

                “That definitely would make my position here as ambassador more… tense,” admitted Neji, smiling back at her.  “If they were ever to work it out, I would lose the chief reason the Hyuuga clan allows me to remain here.”

                “Oh?  And what makes you so sure they HAVEN’T worked it out?” asked Karui, still grinning devilishly.

                Neji didn’t blink.  “Because I used my Byakugan to spy out the whole Raikage’s Tower on my visit to the bathroom.”  He responded.

                Karui’s mouth dropped open.

                It was unusual for him to surprise his unpredictable wife, and Neji rather enjoyed the expression on her face.  “I wonder that your people haven’t bothered figuring out new ways to block my sight.”  He commented drily.  “Or at least that they don’t bother keeping me under closer surveillance.  Though I suppose it’s possible they cleaned out the tower just before my arrival.”

                Karui shook her head in bemusement and took another sip of sake.  “Maybe they’ve got more surveillance on you then you think.”

                “True.  Perhaps they are spying on me in my home.  Perhaps there is a spy, watching us this very instant.”

                “Perhaps I’M the spy.”  Her eyes danced with mischief.  “Perhaps I just married you at the behest of my country to keep tabs on you.”

                “That would speak to a great devotion to your country,” answered Neji gravely.  Distantly, he wondered if HE was slightly drunk.  It was still a somewhat… novel sensation to him.

                Karui snorted with laughter.  “Oh… you have NO idea.  They had to beg me to do it, emphasize  how war would follow and all sorts of things… they went around to all the girls in the village, but none of them cared enough about their country to marry you.”

                “What, were you their last choice?”

                Karui’s smile disappeared and she punched him in the ribs.  “That’s not funny.”

                “Really?  Because I thought it was rather hilarious.”  He MUST be drunk, Neji decided.

                “That’s just cause you have no sense of humor.”  Karui grumbled, but her smile was coming back.  “It’s why no one wanted to marry you.  None of the Kumo girls wanted a serious husband.”

                “A great fortune, then, that so many of the men in Kumo are patently ridiculous.”

                “HA!  Oh, that’s good.  That’s good. That’s friggin’ hilarious…”  Karui dissolved into giggles.  “Oh… wow.”  She put down her drink, a little unsteadily.  “Whoah.  Think I… I’d better lie down.”

                “Here, let me help,” said Neji, as Karui tried to get to her feet.  Her grip almost made him lose his own balance, but he regained it and helped her up.  He wasn’t NEARLY as drunk as she was.

                “Oh…”  Karui blinked as they made their way along the passageway to the bedroom.  “M’ssage come in… this morning.  From Konoha.  Your uncle wants to see you.  Says it’s urgent.”

                “Oh?”  His uncle was getting on in years, before too long he would have to appoint a new clan head to take his place.

                “Oh yeah.  Your cousin’s getting married and there are all sorts of formalities and stuff.”  She leaned into him.  “We goin’ down there again?”

                “I think we must.”  Neji smiled.  “But this time, perhaps we should not bring your mother along with us.”

                “No… that didn’t go so well.”  Karui agreed as he laid her down on the bed.  “It’s okay, I don’t mind most of your family, they’re just sort of… odd.”

                Neji leaned down on the bed next to her.  “That is what you get for marrying an odd man.”

                “Or just being really odd myself.”  She giggled.

                “Or that.”  Neji agreed, leaning in for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neji strikes me as the sort who would make a killer diplomat, his old jerk-ass personality aside. He's great at working with people he despises, he's got all the formal courtesy stuff, and he gives killer intel.
> 
> ALSO: the bit here about the sword is taken from Japanese Mythology. Kusanagi, or "Grasscutter," was so-named after Prince Yamato-Dake used it to save himself from a brushfire, by cutting away all the grass around him. However, Prince Dake actually got the sword from the goddess Susanoo, who got it from her brother Amaterasu, who found it in the bowels of a seven-headed snake. And HE called Murakumo no Tsurugi. Or: "Sword of the Village of the Clustering Clouds." Hence why I stuck it in here. You learn some neat things reading Usagi Yojimbo.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fun little fic I wrote quite a while back, just because of how unusual a pairing it was, and at the same time how well it worked. I wrote--and finished--it before Neji died in the comics, so I guess this'll have to be an AU or something. But hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did.


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